Electrical Appliance with Cylindrical Receptacles

ABSTRACT

An electrical appliance that uses electrical current to uniformly heat up cylindrical objects in a convenient compact appliance is disclosed. An electrical appliance in accordance with the present invention comprises of a housing, a heating element, and at least one cylindrical receptacle that is vertically placed along a top surface of the housing. Moreover, a heating element uniformly wraps around the cylindrical receptacle to form a heating chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to an electrical appliance thatuses electrical current to uniformly heat up cylindrical objects.

2. Description of the Related Art

For time immemorial, humans have struggled to find the perfect way tocook their food. Different objects require different approaches toachieve optimal cooking results, and people have struggled to come upwith ways and means to optimally cook objects that do not conform to aflat cooking surface. However, cooking cylindrical objects have troubledmankind as even heat distribution is essential to optimally cookingcylindrical objects.

All the current products that are out there on the market that attemptto resolve this issue of even heat distribution while cookingcylindrical objects have taken the approach of rotational method. Thesecommon approaches to the problem referred to as rotisseries are inferiorbecause they apply heat to a very small section of the object at a time,and it takes a significantly longer time to cook cylindrical objects inthis way. Moreover, such apparatus often involve bulky rods andmechanical devices that are inconvenient for the common household.

Additionally, traditional compact appliances such as the toaster can noteasily resolve the issue of cooking cylindrical object because despiteits compact designs. Although appliances such as toasters take a uniformheating approach, it's shape is limited to rectangular objects. Toasterovens on the other hand, although is capable of compensating forcircular objects, can not resolve the even heat distribution problem dueto their flat heating source. Appliances such as microwaves, althoughpromotes even heat distribution, can not achieve the crisp texture thatis often desirable from heating elements that offer direct heat.

It can be seen, then, that there is a need for a compact appliance thatcan easily resolve the need to evenly cook food objects that arecylindrical in shape. Consequently, there is a dire need for such aproduct that does not have the drawbacks of the common rotisserie forbeing slow, inefficient, and bulky.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To minimize the limitation in the prior art, and to minimize otherlimitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding thepresent specification, the present invention discloses an appliance forevenly cooking cylindrical food objects in a convenient compactappliance. An appliance in accordance with the present inventioncomprises of a housing, a heating element, and at least one cylindricalreceptacle that is vertically placed along a top surface of the housing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an appliance thatwill evenly cook cylindrical objects without the bulky apparatus such asa rotisserie.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numbers representcorresponding parts throughout:

FIG. 1 illustrates a complete view of the electrical appliance of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a view of the heating chamber, indicating the heatingelement and the position holder

FIG. 3 illustrates the an exploded view of the heating chamber,exemplifying the movement of the outer semicircle

FIG. 4 illustrates the inner details of the heating chamber by rotatingthe heating chambers apart from the center axis.

FIG. 5 illustrates a top view of the heating chamber, demonstrating thegeometric assembly of the heating chamber

FIG. 6 illustrates the hump styles cover, demonstrating the verticallycut out grooves.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following description of the preferred embodiment, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in whichis shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodimentmay be utilized and structural changes may be made without departingfrom the scope of the present invention.

Specifics of the Invention

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall view of the present invention.

Electrical appliance 100 is shown in FIG. 1, with housing 102, heatingelement 104, and cylindrical receptacles 106 that are placed along thetop surface of the housing as indicated to create a heating chamber 108.Although shown as a single unit, and, preferably, in final formcomprises a single unit, electrical appliance 100 can be manufacturedfrom several individually separate and distinct units if needed ordesired.

Housing 102 is typically made into a rectangular box shaped appliance;however, it can also be round, triangular, or any other shape that isaesthetically appealing to the eye without departing from the scope ofthe present invention. Furthermore, although housing 102 can be madefrom steel, aluminum, tin, or other metals, it can be made with anyother material without departing from the present invention.

Cylindrical receptacles 106 are placed vertically along top surface 106can, and is typically used to cook corn; however, cylindrical receptaclecan also be used to cook hot dogs, bread sticks, banana, and any othercylindrical objects that conform to the general shape without departingfrom the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, FIG. 100 indicates3 instances of cylindrical receptacles 106; however, the number ofcylindrical receptacle 106 can be any total number that can beconveniently positioned upon top surface 106 without departing from thescope of the present invention.

Hump style cover 110 is placed on top of cylindrical receptacles 106 inorder to retain heat within each of the heating chamber 108. Hump stylecover 110 is typically made from a ceramic material that is better atretaining heat; however, hump style cover 110 can be made from plastic,glass, or any other metal without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

Movement knob 112 is placed in the front surface of electrical appliance100 in order to allow ease of adjustment of the size of heating chamber108. Although knob 112 is generally placed at the front surface ofappliance 100, its location relative to appliance 100 is not critical,as its placement could be on the right surface, left surface, backsurface, top surface, or even bottom surface without departing from thescope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an enlarged view of heating chamber 108 that iscreated within the cylindrical receptacle 106 shown in FIG. 1 for thepurpose of further demonstrating the details of each heating chamber108.

Heating chamber 200 as shown in FIG. 2 is the same heating chamber 108as indicated in FIG. 1, but significantly enlarged and extrapolated fromhousing 100 to indicate the details of heating element 202, insulatingelement 204, inner semicircle 206, outer semicircle 208.

Heating chamber 200 is typically created where a heating element 202uniformly wraps around the cylindrical receptacle 106, and althoughuniformity within each heating chamber is important to maintain evenheat distribution, minor variations in uniformity might exist withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Additionally, heatingchamber 200 is created through two semicircles consisting of an innersemicircle 206, and an outer semicircle 208. The purpose of creating acylindrical heating chamber out of two semicircles is the ability tohorizontally adjust the size of the cylindrical receptacle 106 tocompensate for different sizes of different objects that needs to becooked.

Inner semicircle 206 and outer semicircle 208 are typically formed toeach consist half of a circular shape, however, the shapes of the innersemicircle 206, and outer semicircle 208 need not be limited to such acircular shape, and can be oval, hexagonal, octagonal, or any othershape that can be symmetrically separated down the middle withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

Heating element 202 is typically made up of any metal of high resistanceto generate heat through electrical current; however, heating elementcan be made out of michrome, nichrome, nickel-chromium, or any othermaterial that could generate heat without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

Insulating element 204 encompasses the heating element to retain heatwithin each of the heating chamber 200 in order to maintain the hightemperature. Although insulating element 204 is typically made out ofceramic materials that are known for insulating heat; insulating elementcan also be made out of plastic, metal, or any other material that haslow coefficient of heat transfer without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of heating chamber 108 that iscreated within the cylindrical receptacle 106 shown in FIG. 1. Theexploded view offered by FIG. 3 shows the horizontal movement of outersemicircle, and the internal components of heating chamber 108.

Heating chamber 300 as shown in FIG. 3 is the same heating chamber 108as indicated in FIG. 1 and heating chamber 200 in FIG. 2, but outersemicircle 208 have been moved to its expanded position to better showhorizontal movement.

Although the present invention keeps inner semicircle 206 stationary,and outer semicircle 208 is movable, the inner semicircle could bemovable while keeping the outer semicircle 208 stationary withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, althoughthe joining of the inner semicircle 206 and the outer semicircle 208 isthrough horizontal movement, other movements such as transversemovement, diagonal movements, and any other movements used to compensatefor different sizes of the object being cooked can be utilized withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the inner workings of heating chamber 108 by rotatinginner semicircle 206 and outer semicircle 208 apart from each other toallow better illustration. This rotational view offers additionalinsight to the location of position holder 402 and the existence ofbottom stopper 404.

Here the figure illustrates two instances of position holder 402, withone placed near the top of heating chamber 108 and the other one placednear the bottom of heating chamber 108. Although no more than twoinstances of position holder 402 is needed to maintain stability of theobject being inserted into heating chamber 108, the number of instancesof position holder could be reduced to one, or increased to three, four,five, or any number of instances without departing from the scope of thecurrent invention. Additionally, despite the fact that stability isgenerally maximized when the position holders 402 be placed near the topand bottom of heating chamber 108, its location could be at any positioninside the heating chamber without departing from the scope of thecurrent invention.

Bottom stopper 404 here is shown to be attached to bottom of innersemicircle 206, because inner semicircle 206 is generally maintained ina stationary position; and the movement of a lighter outer semicircle isdesirable. However, bottom stopper 404 could be attached to outersemicircle 208 without departing from the scope of the currentinvention. The existence of bottom stopper 404 is used to stop theobject being inserted from falling through heating chamber 108, and tomaintain the vertical position of the object being inserted to ensureoptimal heating. Additionally, bottom stopper 404 here is made out of acrossed sectional wired mesh material to ensure that the crumbs andother cooking residues fall though the heating chamber into a crumbtray.

Although a wired mesh material being used for bottom stopper 404 is thepreferred embodiment, the usage of horizontal wires, vertical wires, orany other material that allows the passage of fine particles could beused without departing from the scope of the current invention.Moreover, although it is desirable to have bottom stopper 404 be madeout of a material that allows the fine particles to fall though for easeof cleaning and maintenance, bottom stopper 404 could be a solid bottomwithout departing from the scope of the current invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a top view of heating chamber 108 that is createdwithin the cylindrical receptacle 106 as shown in FIG. 1. The top viewoffers additional insight to the assembly of inner semicircle 206 andouter semicircle 208 as well as the special relation between positionholder 402 and heating element 202.

Heating chamber 108 is shown here as a single assembled unit with aninner semicircle 206 and outer semicircle 208 assembled together. Theinner semicircle 206 seems to have a smaller diameter than outersemicircle 208, and that difference is essential to the proper assemblyof heating chamber 108. Although a slight difference in the diameterbetween inner semicircle 206 and outer semicircle 208 is critical tofunctionality, the exact difference can be any numerical distancewithout departing from the scope of the present invention. Moreover,although inner semicircle 206 has a smaller diameter than outersemicircle 208, the diameters could be reversed without departing fromthe scope of the current invention yielding an inner semicircle 206having a larger diameter than outer semicircle 208.

Position holder 402 is used as a separation between heating element 202and the object being cooked. An inner diameter 502 is created when theposition holder is placed an equal distance away from heating element202, and inner diameter 502 limits the outermost surface area of theobject being cooked. Position holder 402 is generally made out of anon-heat-conductive material such as ceramic; however, it can be metal,plastic or any other material that will not burn the object being cookedwithout departing from the scope of the present invention.

In order to ensure maximum heat exposure, the distance of separation 504created by position holder 402 between heating element 202 and innerdiameter 502 should be kept to a minimal. Although a distance of 2millimeter is recommended for distance of separation 504, any distanceof separation can be utilized without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the hump styled cover 110 withcut out grooves 602, and piercing rob 604, and handles 606.

As shown, the humped styled cover 110 contains vertically cut grooves602 used to compensate for the directional variations of the object thatis being inserted into cylindrical receptacle 106. The vertically cutgrooves work in conjunction with piercing rod 604 to ensure that theobject inserted stays vertical within heating chamber 108. Moreover,piercing rod 604 can also serve the purpose of creating a handle that iseasy to grasp when removing food objects that has been heated.

Piercing rod 604 is generally a rod that is sharp on one end to allowfor easy piercing of the object being cooked. The existence of apiercing rod 604 allows for ease of handling of the object, and however,it is not essential to the functionality of appliance 100 to have apiercing rod 604, and its lack of existence will not depart from thescope of the present invention. Piercing rod 604 is typically made of ahard durable metal material; however, piercing rod 604 can be plastic,wood, or any other material that is durable to withstand the rigors ofmultiple piercing thrusts. Moreover, piercing rod 604 usually contains ahandle 606 to allow an easy grip of piercing rob 604, however, handle606 is not essential to the functionality of piercing rod 604, and it'slack of existence will not depart from the scope of the presentinvention.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the present invention provides for evenly cookingcylindrical food objects in a convenient compact appliance. An appliancein accordance with the present invention comprises of a housing, aheating element, and at least one cylindrical receptacle that isvertically placed along a top surface of the housing.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been presented for the purpose of illustration and description. Itis not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of theinvention not be limited by this detailed description, but only by theclaims and the equivalents to the claims appended hereto.

1. An electrical appliance comprising a. A housing; b. A heatingelement; and c. A at least one cylindrical receptacle that is verticallyplaced along a top surface of the housing
 2. the electrical appliance ofclaim 1, where a heating element which uniformly wraps around thecylindrical receptacle to form a heating chamber.
 3. the electricalappliance of claim 2, wherein the heating chamber is composed of aninner semicircle and an outer semicircle that are joined together toconform to the shape of the cylindrical receptacle creating an innerdiameter.
 4. the electrical appliance of claim 3, wherein a positionholder is used within each of the heating chamber creating separationbetween the inner diameter of the heating chamber and the heatingelement to avoid direct contact with the heating element.
 5. theelectrical appliance of claim 4, wherein the outer semicircle ishorizontally movable to enlarge or reduce the inner diameter of theheating chambers to compensate for different sizes of an object beinginserted
 6. the electrical appliance of claim 5, wherein each of theheating chamber will contain a hump style cover that is removablymounted on the cylindrical receptacles
 7. the electrical appliance ofclaim 1, wherein the electrical appliance is used for corn
 8. theelectrical appliance of claim 7, where a heating element which uniformlywraps around the cylindrical receptacle to form a heating chamber. 9.the electrical appliance of claim 8, wherein the heating chamber iscomposed of an inner semicircle and an outer semicircle that are joinedtogether to conform to the shape of the cylindrical receptacle creatingan inner diameter.
 10. the electrical appliance of claim 9, wherein aposition holder is used within each of the heating chamber creatingseparation between the inner diameter of the heating chamber and theheating element to avoid direct contact with the heating element. 11.the electrical appliance of claim 10, wherein the outer semicircle ishorizontally movable to enlarge or reduce the inner diameter of theheating chambers to compensate for different sizes of an object beinginserted
 12. the electrical appliance of claim 11, wherein each of theheating chamber will contain a hump style cover that is removablymounted on the cylindrical receptacles
 13. the electrical appliance ofclaim 12, wherein the hump style covers contain a vertically cut outgrooves to compensate for directional variations of the handle of theobject being inserted
 14. the electrical appliance of claim 13, whereinan insulating element encompass the heating element to retain heatwithin each of the heating chamber
 15. the electrical appliance of claim14, wherein the heating element generates heat through the passage of aelectrical current through a metal of high resistance
 16. An electricalappliance comprising a. A housing; b. A at least one cylindricalreceptacle; and c. A heating element which uniformly wraps around thecylindrical receptacle to form a heating chamber.
 17. an electricalappliance of claim 16, wherein the heating chamber is composed of aninner semicircle and an outer semicircle that are joined together toconform to the shape of the cylindrical receptacle creating an innerdiameter.
 18. an electrical appliance of claim 17, wherein a positionholder is used within each of the heating chamber creating separationbetween the inner diameter of the heating chamber and the heatingelement to avoid direct contact with the heating element.
 19. anelectrical appliance of claim 18, where a heating element whichuniformly wraps around the cylindrical receptacle to form a heatingchamber.
 20. an electrical appliance of claim 19, wherein the outersemicircle is horizontally movable to enlarge or reduce the innerdiameter of the heating chambers to compensate for different sizes of anobject being inserted